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Ben Koller - Converge

In 1999, Ben Koller deputised for one gig on Converge's then-recently vacated drumstool. He never left, and thank God.

It's surely no coincidence that the drummer's arrival dovetailed with the band's ascent to hardcore royalty with 2001's Jane Doe; after all, it's Koller's brutal power that give this breakthrough album its steel backbone, and his polyrhythmic chops that stop it from becoming a mindless metalcore juggernaut. He's a drum animal who can read music. He's an extreme metaller who cites Michael Jackson as an influence. And it's exactly these contradictions that make Koller a magnetic box-fresh talent in a sea of four-to-the-floor dullards.

The man himself says that if he ever packed in the drums, he'd "play poker professionally and raise goats". Pray that he's joking.

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Recommended listening

Jane Doe - Converge (Equal Vision) Buy here: Amazon | HMV | Play
Axe To Fall - Converge (Epitaph) Buy here: Amazon | HMV | Play

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